Intaglio printing apparatus



June 13, 7 F FERNANDEZ IN'IAGLIO PRINTING APPARATUS I Filed June 27, 1941 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Y INVENTOR. fZ-mva N00 Fswvn woez ATTORNEY.

June 13, 1944. F. FERNANDEZ 2,351,030

\ I'NTAGLIO PRINTING APPARATUS I Filed June 27, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NV E NTOR. FER/VA -00 FEM/4N0 52 ATTORNEY.

June 13, 1944. 'F FERNANDEZ 2,351,030

INTAGLIO PRINTING APPARATUS Filed June 27, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN'l "OR. FERNANDO FERNANDEZ ATTORNEY.

June 13, 1944. EERNANDEZ 2,351,030

I INTAGLIO PRINTING APPARATUS INVENTOR. f'smmzvoo FERN/5410s:

BY I 1 g I ATTORIVEX Patented June 13, 1944 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE INTAGLIO PRINTING APPARATUS Fernando Fernandez, Mexico City, Mexico Application June 2'7, 1941, Serial No. 399,979 Claims. (Cl. 101-161) The invention relates to printing machines, more especially to presses adapted for the printing of postage, revenue, and other stamps, as well as of securities such as bonds, stocks, and the like from engraved metal plates.

In printing of this nature, considerable care and skill are required in preparing the plates for the action of the press after the inking thereof. This has been accomplished heretofore by the application under friction to the surface of a plat of a fiat surface covered with paper or cloth, the required pressure being applied mechanically with an oscillatory movement of the paper or cloth, different portions of the plate frequently requiring difierent degrees of pressure. This pressure, however lightly it may be applied, is sufficiently great to cause in due time appreciable wear of the metal printing plates, such as hardened or chromium-faced steel plates; and when the operation is manual, this requires expert manipulation and skill, though the wear then is very slight in comparison with that resulting from mechanical operation.

A plate thus prepared with the requisite amount of ink remaining in the engraved grooves of the surface is presented, in the presses heretofore utilized, to a printing roller, commonly known as a D roller, the plate being carried by a plank or bed between said roller and a drum, together with the paper to be printed upon. As these pass between the roller and drum under the action of enormous pressure, the printing is effected.

The D roller in its action applies its pressure on the whole surface of the plate, depressing the paper strongly into the grooves of the plate to cause the paper to take up the ink therein; and to attain this effect it is necessary to apply a certain degree of moisture to the paper in order to soften the pulp of which it is composed. This requirement of a predetermined moisturecontent makes impossible the direct printing of gummed papers, such as are utilized in connection with postage, revenue, and other stamps; and the manufacture of these items then becomes a most complicated, difficult and costly procedure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide, for printing from intaglio metal plates, a novel press which does not require, for-example, that the gummed paper be first humidified.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel mechanical means for preparing the plate, preliminary to the printing therefrom,

without necessitating the direct contact of a wiping cloth and/or paper with the printing plate surface.

Still another object of the invention is to provide mechanical means for the wiping and polishing of the plate which will reduce materially the wear of the said printing surface.

The invention has for an object, also, a novel mounting for the customary D roller whereby the same, in addition to its usual movement into contact with the printing plate, is afforded a further movement longitudinally thereof to effect the printing, the printing plate during the printing operation being maintained in a stationary position, thereby permitting of materially in creasing the pressure applied to the said plate.

In carrying out the invention, provision is made for a plurality of wiping and polishing cylinders to contact the inked surface of the printing plate, the respective cylinders having different surface finishes and being simultaneously slowly rotated and axially reciprocated; alter nate cylinders rotating in opposite directions. A travelling cloth or band of absorbent material located beneath these cylinders is caused to contact the surfaces of the respective cylinders to remove surplus ink therefrom as gathered by these cylinders in wiping over the printing plate surface.

The wiped and polished printing plate is then presented to a "D roller for the printing operation which is accomplished by translating the said D roller across the surface of the printin plate.

The nature of the invention, however, will best be understood when described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the novel press, with portions broken away.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the press taken on the line 33, Fig. l of the drawings, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views illustrating the driving arrangement for the wiping and polishing cylinders.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a wiping and polishing cylinder and illustrates a modification therein.

Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the press taken on the line 1-4, Fig. 1 of the drawings, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, l9 designates a frame for supporting the inking mechanism of the press and H a translatable frame for supporting the wiping and polishing means for an inked printing plate, while l2 designates the like IQ of the frame, the printing being effected through a window of the table in the manner hereinafter set forth.

The plank |5 is designed to be reciprocated over the tracks l3, I4, and to this end, preferably, has attached thereto an electric motor 2| with carriage 22 riding on the tracks |3, |4.

Motor 2| rotates a gear 23 in mesh with the teeth of a rack 24 longitudinally disposed over the top of the printing apparatus between the tracks l3 and M. Motor 2| is of the reversible type which may be provided with limit switches or with switch means 25 designed for engagement with a switch-actuating element 25' at the outer end of the track. At the starting end, a movable stop is provided for engaging the switch means, the same being, for example, in the nature of a bellcrank 26, controlled from the driving mechanism for the press, as hereinafter set forth, such that when energized the said motor will cause the plank to travel from one end of the apparatus to the other and then return to its initial position in the printing portion of the said apparatus. During its outward travel, the plank with plate passes over wiping and polishing means, without engaging the same, to the inking means, being inked by the latter during the end of its outward movement and the beginning of its return movement. I

During the return movement, as it passes over the wiping and polishing means, the latter are caused to contact the surface of the printing plate to wipe surplus ink from the surface thereof as well as to polish the same. In its extreme inward return position, the plank with plate is located properly for making the impression upon the paper, all of which will hereinafter be more fully set forth.

The travel of the carriage 2g over tracks I3 and I4 is utilized also to swing the doctor roll of the ink fountain 3| into position of engagement with the surface of the printing plate ll. This may conveniently be effected by mounting the said doctor roll at one end of a lever 32 whose opposite end carries a roller 33 for engagement with the plank. On the return movement of the carriage, roll 30 assumes its normal position, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, when the cam again passes by roller 33, surplus ink being removed from the surface of the printing plate by the scraper blades 35 of the ink fountain in the usual manner. These blades are oscillated mechanically and the inking roller 36 of the fountain rotated, as from a worm 37 and intermediate gears 38 and 39, respectively.

After the ink has thus been applied to the printing plate, the same is caused to advance, on the return movement, over and into contact with a plurality of cylinders 49, 4!, 42, and 43 which are designed to wipe any surplus ink from the surface and to insure that the same will be properly polished and prepared for the subsequent printing operation.

The respective surfaces of these contacting cylinders are differently finished. For example,

cylinder may be provided with spiral grooves 45 and the next adjacent cylinder with longitudinal grooves 46. Or, as indicated in Fig. 6 of the drawings, this latter cylinder may be provided with a multiple finish, that is to say, the surface thereof may be provided over half its length with longitudinal grooves 4'! and the re- .mainder merely roughened slightly as indicated at 48. The third of the cylinders, namely: a cylinder 42, is provided with a roughened finish, as indicated at 49, while the surface of the last cylinder is perfectly smooth and highly polished, as indicated. or course, other combinations of finishes as between an initial cylinder with the roughest finish and a final cylinder with smooth,

highly-polished finish may be substituted depending upon the character of the design from which the prints are to be made.

The different cylinders are caused to rotate, all in a direction opposite the return travel of the plank. In addition, there is imparted thereto simultaneously with the rotational movement an axial reciprocation, this being in opposite directions for alternate cylinders.

The various movements imparted to these said 7 cylinders is derived also from the worm 31 which in turn receives its rotational movement from an electric motor 2| through intermediate mechanism. Each cylinder 4!], 4|, 42, and 43 is connected through intermediate gearing including the gears 50, 5|, 52, and 53 engaging the said worm 31. For example, the shafts of the respective gears 50, 5|, 52, and 53 carry spur gears 55, 55, 57, and 58, each gear meshing with a corresponding elongated pinion as the pinion 59, Fig.

5 of the drawings. These pinion are connected in turn to bevel gears 60, 6|, 62, 63, and 64 driving the respective shafts of the corresponding cylinders 40, 4|, 42, and 43.

Normally, these cylinders are depressed below the plane of the printing plate so that the latter may pass freely thereover in its outward travel toward the inking fountain. On the return movement, however, the cylinders are designed to contact the surface of the printing plate, as aforesaid, and to this end are designed to be elevated. This is accomplished by means of a cam driven through bevel gears 66 from a pinion 59, thus assuring proper timing. The various cylinders are therefore mounted in a vertically movable frame El slidable in the frame H, the cam engaging the underface of the frame 61 and the gears 69 and pinion 59 moving therewith through an extending arm (i8 supporting the same.

As hereinbefore noted, the respective cylinders have imparted thereto a reciprocatory movement in the direction of their axes of rotation, this being imparted from the gear wheels 55, 56, 51, and 58 which carry respective disks ll, i2, "i3, and 14 hearing dovetailed slides for ball-andsocket joints 15, T6, 11, and 18, respectively. These in turn are connected to the drive shafts for the corresponding cylinders 48, 4|, 42, and 43 through corresponding ball joints 19, 8|], BI, and 82. By this expedient, as a disk rotates, the drive shaft for the corresponding cylinder may be reciprocated, one of the companion bevel gears of the shaft being slidably keyed thereto to permit of their reciprocation. The ball joint connection and the slidable mounting of a ball joint in its gear-driven disk admits also of the relatively small elevation of the set of cylinders for contacting with the surface of the printing plate. The slides for the respective joints i5, 16, I1, and

with a tongue 99 fitting said slot.

.18 are so positioned initially in their disks that alternate cylinders reciprocate oppositely.

1 Immediately below the series of cylinders 49, M, 42, and 43 i located a series of rollers 83, 84, '85, 85, and 81, for example of wood, upon which the said cylinders normally rest, the rollers being in the nature of anti-friction members and spring-urged toward the said cylinders as by means of compression springs 88 tending to move a supporting frame 88' for the rollers in an upward direction. Frame 88' is slidably mounted in the frame H for vertical movement therein. Cam 89 mounted for rotation at opposite sides of frame I I support frame 88 at its underside and when rotated permit this frame to drop for the'purpose of separating the rollers from the cylinders. This will be required when it is desired to replace a band 99 of absorbent material, preferably having a towel finish, and designed to be drawn between thesaid cylinders and the rollers and forced by the latter into contact with the undersurfaces of the former. Before effecting this contact, the band is preferably passed through a container 9| holding a liquid ink solvent, the band then passing through a suitable wringer or the like 92..driven from the Worm -3I.and adjustable in the usual manner and thereby serving to regulate the liquid content of the band. The wrin-ger at the same time serves to tension said band in its travel over the cylinders to a take-up roll 93 also driven from Worm 37 through intermediate gearing. Band 99 in its travel between the cylinders and rollers, when contacting the former, serves to remove therefrom the surplus ink accumulating thereon through the action of these rollers on the printing plate; and when the band becomes sufliciently soiled, it may conveniently be replaced by moving laterall the entire frame II, which to this end is mounted on rails 94, and then dropping the rollers through the action of cams 89 which are manually operated. In order to maintain the band 99 laterally extending in its passage between the cylinders and rollers, end pins or needles 95 are provided over the circumference of the roller at the respective ends.

In order to admit of this translation of the frame I I with its cylinders, rollers, and driving mechanisms, it becomes necessary to interrupt the worm 31 and to make provision for insuring proper replacement so as to avoid any disturbance of the timing of the various parts. This may be accomplished, for example, by breaking the said worm 31 at the two points 96 and 91, one portion at each point being provided with a diametral slot '98 through its end and the other The one end is then provided with a collar I 99 over which is rotatably mounted a hollow nut I9I adapted to fit over threads I92 of the other end of the separation. Therefore, by unscrewing the nut IIlI and moving the same axially backwardly, the mechanism-Operating portion of drive shaft 31 and the entire wiping and polishing unit may be laterally moved, for example, to the broken-line position, Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Following the wiping and polishing action by the cylinders 49, 4|, 42, and 43 on the printing plate H, the latter advances into the printing position over table I9, and provision is made for juxtaposing thereto, through the window 29 in the table, a "D roller I I9 of the usual construction. The positioning of this roller is effected from the motor 2| through intermediate mechanism including the counteror cross-shaft carrier II I and bevel gears I I2 for a shaft Il3'driving the worm 31. A fixed rack H4 engages the teeth of a spur gear H5 on the spindle H9 of the "D roller and this spindle is supported in a carrier Ill, and the latter on a series of anti.- friction members or rollers H8 of the movable platen H9 of the press. This platen is designed to be elevated when the printing is to be effected to provide the necessary contact pressure between-the surface of D roller H9 and the plate I'Las by means of a cam I29 operated from the shaft II I through intermediate gearing I2I, said cam engaging the toggle I22 of the platen.

As soon as this contact has been established, the printing is effected by the movement of the carrier in a direction at right angles to the contact movement, and thereby of the D roller 7 ment, .materially higher contact pressures may be secured sothat moistening of the paper will not be required.

The reciprocation of the carrier with its D roller is efiected also from the shaft IH, through a worm I25 driven thereby and passing through a nut I26 of the carrier. Power is transmitted from the shaft II I through the spiral gear I 21 thereon engaging the spiral gear I28 on a vertically disposed shaft I29 driving at its upper and bevel gear I39. This latter gear engages two bevel gears I3I and I32 loosel mounted on the worm shaft I25. One or the other of the gears I3I and I32 is designed to be clutched to said .worm shaft by the clutch means I33 in accordance with the required direction of movement of H1. The said clutch, furthermore, is tripped to effect the movement by means of pins I34 and I35 extending laterally from the carrier and designed to engage respective arms I35 and I31 of a rod I38attachcd to the lever I39 of the said clutch.

' On the shaft I49 for cam I29 is provided also the cam I4! for actuating the bell-crank 29 controlling the reciprocation of the plank. Thus all of the operations are controlled from the motor 2| which, when energized, drives the various shafts, shaft I49 efiecting the energization of -motor 2I through shifting of its switch 25 by the bell-crank 29 out of, for example, the normal vertical position to an inclined position. Said imotorZI then causes the carriage 22 to move over the tracks I 3, I4 toward the inking fountain where the printing plate is inked, whereupon the return movement begins due to the engagement of the switch with the stop 25,

throwing sai-d switch to a position for reversing.

the direction of rotation of motor 2I. The carriage .will continue its travel then toward the printing portion of the apparatus until the switch again engages with the bell-crank, which 'sets the switch to the vertical or off position,

fclaim: r 1 x 1. In a press'for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping'and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed, rotatable, indented-surface wiping cylinders to contact the plate surface, successive cylinders having respective contacting surfaces of different finish.

2. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising four adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, the successive cylinders being respectively'provided with shallow, fine grooves spirally arranged over the surface, with shallow, fine grooves longitudinally disposed over the surface, with a relatively smooth unpolished surface, and with a highly-polished surface. 1

3. In a press for printing'from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed, rotat-' able, indented-surface wiping cylinders to contact the plate, successive cylinders having respective contact surfaces of different finish and one of the cylinders having a portion with surface finish different from the remainder portion thereof.

4. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for Wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, and means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, together with means to advance the band past said cylinders.

5. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means forwiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, means through which said band passes to saturate the same with an ink solvent prior to applying the band to the cylinder undersurfaces, together with means to advance the band past said cylinders, and wringer means adjustable to regulate the liquid content of the band and to tension said band during its travel over the cylinders.

6. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, and means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, and a plurality of rollers below said wiping and polishing cylinders spring-urged toward the same to carry the. band to the surfaces of the former and to maintain it in contact therewith.

7. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, and means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders-for contacting the surfaces thereof, and a plurality of rollers below said wiping and polishing cylinders spring-urged toward the same to carry the band to the surfaces of the former and to maintain it in contact therewith, together with means to depress the rollers as a unit relatively to the cylinders.

8. In a'press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, and means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, and a'plurality of rollers below said wiping and polishing cylinders spring-urged toward the same to carry the band to the surfaces of the former and to maintain it in contact therewith, said rollers having means at their opposite ends for engaging the band to maintain the same laterally extended.

9. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, and a plurality of rollers below said wiping and polishing cylinders spring-urged toward the same to carry the band to the surfaces of the former and to maintain it in contact therewith, and means to translate the cylinders, rollers, and band as a unit.

10. In a press for printing from engraved metal plates: means for wiping and polishing an inked plate preliminary to printing therefrom, comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed rotatable cylinders to contact the plate surface, means to remove surplus ink from the said cylinders resulting from the contact, including a band of absorbent material located below the cylinders for contacting the surfaces thereof, and a plurality of rollers below said wiping and polishing cylinders spring-urged toward the same to carry the band to the surfaces of the former and to maintain it in contact therewith, separable driving means for actuating said cylinders and band, and means to translate the cylinders, rollers, and band as a unit.

FERNANDO FERNANDEZ. 

